The invention relates to a device for combing at least two partial flows of articles to be sorted to form a total flow of articles to be sorted.
Such a device is generally used in a sorting conveyor for mail automation, as for example disclosed in European patent application EP 827 786 A1. Generally said sorting conveyor has so-called insertion devices, which insert the flat items to be sorted into pockets on a revolving conveyor. The flat items to be sorted are emptied out of these pockets at the physical destination points assigned to them and can then be routed to their intended location.
Sorting flat items to be sorted is relatively exacting, because the dimensions and ease of handling of flat items to be sorted fluctuates greatly. On the one hand with regard to format alone there are almost an unlimited number of different dimensions for width, height and thickness. Also the packaging and rigidity of flat items to be sorted varies enormously, as represented for example by the opposing examples of rather hard, rigid cardboard envelopes and quite soft brochures and magazines packaged in film. Particularly problematic also are the so-called mail shots, which generally contain advertising material and often simply comprise a collection of loose sheets with advertising inserts inserted as well, which extend beyond the dimensions of the other sheets.
Generally such mail shots and other flat items to be sorted are inserted in horizontal stacks into the feed device mentioned above and have to be withdrawn from said stacks individually, which per se is also a very exacting task from a technical point of view. In order that these flat, generally horizontal, items to be sorted can be inserted by means of an insertion device into the revolving sorting conveyor, it is necessary to stand said items to be sorted vertically. Standing them up means it is in turn necessary for the items to be sorted to be fed to the device to stand up the items to be sorted with very precise positioning. This is complicated by the fact that the less rigid and per se not very homogenous items to be sorted, e.g. the above-mentioned mail shots, are particularly difficult to handle and therefore generally cannot be fed in by automated means but have to be positioned manually on the feed device from an input point, which represents a significant cost factor. One solution to this problem is disclosed in the not previously published European patent application EP 02 019 419.
With regard to the present invention described below, it must be possible for standard flat mail items (letters, magazines, generally flat envelopes) and the items to be sorted as described above, which are rather more problematic with regard to handling, to be sorted using a common sorting conveyor and in a common sorting run to the physical destination points, for which at present there are no solutions in the prior art.